“Paydiant will let us get to market much faster,” said CU Wallet CEO Paul Fiore in an interview at the Aria Hotel. Fiore said he had been telling the 20-plus credit unions that have already signed on for CU Wallet that the product would be live in Q1 2014, but “now I believe we will be able to move that up to Q4 2013.”

Fiore added that CU Wallet is majority owned by credit unions, which range in size from under $100 million in assets to $6 billion San Diego County Credit Union. He indicated that CU Wallet will continue to bring in credit unions that want to offer their members a digital wallet.

Key to the Paydiant mobile wallet is that – unlike some competitor products – it works on existing smartphones and also on existing retail point of sale technology. That means there are no required technology upgrades needed to begin using the wallet.

In a statement, Fiore elaborated that CU Wallet will “enable credit unions to deploy these (mobile payment) capabilities sooner and with far less expense.”

“Just as importantly, (the Paydiant) platform,” he said, “will allow us to focus on delivering the credit-union specific business, operation and go-to-market capabilities that CU Wallet is uniquely positioned to bring to the market. That’s a win for everyone involved.”